VA Scandal in Context

It’s amazing what one can learn from following the news closely. Take President Obama for example. About a year ago, Mr. Obama was shocked to hear news that the IRS had been targeting TEA Party organizations and other conservative groups who were seeking 501c(4) status. In fact, he said he was ‘outraged.’

Of course Mr. Obama was also upset when he learned from the news media that his administration had tapped Associated Press phones as well as FOX journalist James Rosen’s phones, including Rosen’s parents’ phones. Mr. Obama has seemingly been shocked throughout his time as president learning from the news media that his justice department walked guns into Mexico.

Thankfully, America’s news media is doing its best to keep our president informed of what’s going on inside his own administration. Take the latest scandal inside the Obama administration: Veterans Administration. Jay Carney, White House Spokesperson, said Mr. Obama was “mad as hell” when he learned about failures within the VA blamed for deaths of up to 40 veterans. He learned these allegations through news reports, of course. This in spite of campaigning since 2007 on cleaning up long waiting times and poor service at the VA.

So, even though Mr. Obama has campaigned for seven years on cleaning up problems at the VA, he was unaware of failures within the VA that are coming to light through news reports. In response to the latest breaking news, Mr. Obama has promised an investigation. That’s code for ‘no one can say anything about the scandal until we get all the facts through an investigation about what really happened.’ The same is true about investigations into Benghazi, the NSA, IRS, Fast and Furious, etc.

In other news, the House quickly passed Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act (H.R. 4031) with strong bi-partisan support (390-33) that would hold VA managers accountable for failures inside their areas of oversight. This means the VA Secretary could more easily fire those responsible for creating secret waiting lists and padding their numbers to hide facts about veterans who were not receiving care.

Democrats in the Senate, specifically socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), made a motion for more time “to study” the 3-page bill, and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) left the bill in committee. In other words, Democrats in the Senate blocked the only action taken in Washington in response to corruption inside the VA.

To summarize, Jay Carney said the president was “mad as hell” after learning from the news media about the VA scandal. President Obama made a speech and said there would be an investigation. The Republican-led House quickly passed a bi-partisan bill to help Secretary of VA hold managers accountable for their failures. And, Democrats in the Senate stalled the vote in order to have time to study the 3-page bill.

If you have an opportunity to vote for senator in your state, please don’t vote for a Democrat. A lot of things are wrong in Washington on both sides of the political divide, and have been wrong for years. But, Democrats in the Senate are led and controlled by extremist ideologues who care so little about our veterans they won’t even make time to vote for a 3-page bill that promises to begin cleaning up problems within the VA.